Recommendation: Hedrek: Night of the Mummers

I first came across the work of  Laurence Alison when he created a book about the life and mythology of Heracles (see October 2021s blog post).  This was a book that I really enjoyed, illustrated beautifully throughout by 2000AD art droid and independent creator David Hitchcock.  So when I saw that the pair had teamed up again, this time to create a comic, I pledged immediately to the Kickstarter campaign for a digital copy of "Hedrek: Night of the Mummers".  Laurence kindly sent my digital copy, ahead of release, to cast an eye over and review here.

My introduction to David's work was reading his version of the classic Dickens horror story "The Signalman". For me, he has a style perfectly suited to recreating Victorian England.  He has a real flair for horror as could also be seen in his recent 2000AD stories about a possessed, cult leading, ventriloquist's dummy. With the latest book, Laurence has given David a new box of toys to play with in the form of a folk horror murder mystery.

Set in a small Cornish coastal village, the hero of the piece, dedicated cop Detective Hedrek Stern is drawn into a gruesome murder investigation.  The horrific murders seem to involve strange characters known as mummers, actors from folk plays, often dressed and masked as creatures of folklore, like the Green Man.  This is no ordinary crime and certainly, no ordinary criminals behind it.

Alison shows his real life skill set in the procedural elements of the book.  His background, as a Professor of Forensic Psychology, is working with and training police officers on interview techniques, profiling and criminal investigation.  Obviously this gives him the inside track on how they work and think.  Here he's also written an original story with elements and characters that I've never encountered in comics before.  He has a good ear for accents and writes the cornish dialect in a way that you really hear the characters voice, without it being a caricature.

David Hitchcock has done an awesome job on the artwork, many of the pages are just filled to the brim with a Bernie Wrightson level of detail.  The panels and splash pages compliment Laurence's script perfectly and give the feel of watching a prime time cop drama on TV.

If I have any gripe it's that, the story felt like it was a little cramped into the 38 pages.  I would love to have seen this multi-layered story given a bit more room to breathe and perhaps be spread over two issues. That being said, I really enjoyed Hedrek: Night of the Mummers and this is a great scene setter, I certainly look forward to more from this creative team and Detective Hedrek Stern. 

If you would like to back the Kickstarter and grab a copy for yourself head here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/scarcomics/hedrek-night-of-the-mummers?ref=checkout_rewards_page

Review: Technofreak #4

You may not have heard of Technofreak, or you may know of it but haven't read a copy yet. However you will have probably heard of one of it's creators, especially if you are a fan of 2000AD. John Charles is one of the galaxy's greatests top colourists and also the Editor in Chief of Technofreak.

The story is centred on Jon Sherlok the last of The Technofreaks, people implanted with tech that could, amongst other things, turn their brains into supercomputers.  John puts his skills to use as a private investigator, based in London in 3026. He has associates in the shape of his sarcastic, hard drinking robot cat Maurice and frenemy Neville Brady who likes to use his fists rather than his intellect, making him London's toughest private eye.  No private eye story would be complete without a femme fatale and none are more femme or fatale than Loretta Youth, sultry, dangerous and sexy.

I got onboard with issue one and was immediately taken with the comics action and humour, that both served to give a real feel of classic 2000AD stories. What also impressed me was the artwork from another 2000AD alumni, Tom Newell bringing the characters to life beautifully with a great eye for action and the voluptuous female.  

Recently launched is the Indiegogo funding campaign for Technofreak #4. I'm not going to go too deep into the plot and story as I don't want to give any unwitting spoilers.  However, I can wholeheartedly recommend the series. Both story and art are maturing and evolving with every issue, while still keeping the humour that helps it stand apart from the rest. 

If you want a story that delivers kick ass sci-fi action, great characters and doesn't take itself too seriously you need to get hold of Technofreak.

The current Indiegogo campaign for issue #4 can be found here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/technofreak-issue-4#/

Among the various reward tiers, you can buy all the previous issues of Technofreak and get caught up or you can visit the website here: www.sundaylunchcomics.com

Review: Sentinel #11

Well it's been way too long since I sat down and wrote anything, even a review piece.  The work/life rollercoaster, especially life with a toddler, has been a crazy one since before Christmas.  However, I was recently kindly sent a preview of the new issue of Sentinel so I thought I'd jot down some thoughts on it here as the Kickstarter campaign is currently underway.

Issue 11 is called Dark Matter, written by regular Sentinel Scribe Alan Holloway and drawn by artist Ian Beedle.  Alan has given us a good old school all action sci-fi story, revolving around a team of mercenaries who, along with badass combat skills, have individual psi abilities.  The team are on a mission, working for a large corporation, to liberate top secret Intel. 

I last saw Ian's work on the Sentinel title Misty Moore back in September 2020 (see previous review) and at the time I said I felt that "some aspects of his art need a little honing".  Well consider those aspects well and truly honed.  It's clear to see the hard work Ian has put in on this one with some lovely black and white images. I really enjoyed the look of the team of characters Ian brought to life, along with a side character who bears a striking resemblance to a certain 80s rock and film star.

The story is definitely a throw back to the early days of 2000AD, with a battle hardened crew of mercs whose character traits would sit comfortably in a title like Battle or Action.  There's a nice dynamic and banter between the characters that keeps the story moving along. 

In the year we are celebrating 45 years since those early issues of the galaxies greatest hit the newsagents shelves, I was happy to enjoy a story with a retro feel. This has certainly been my favourite issue of Sentinel for a while.

If you want to back the Kickstarter campaign yourself here's the link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sentinelcomic/sentinel-comic-issue-11-dark-matter?ref=project_link

The Kickstarter ends in about a week and already has reached more than double its target, look out for the limited edition cover by 2000ADs Patrick Goddard too. 

Review: Kiss My Axe

Pat Mills' Slaine has always been a favourite 2000AD character of mine, he was so different from all the other characters in British comics at the time.  In typical Pat Mills style, he was no super slick faultless hero, he was an awesome Celtic rogue and I was hooked from episode one.  So when I heard that Uncle Pat was writing a book about the creation of Slaine it was on my to buy list right away. It took a bit longer to see publication than first expected, other projects got in the way, but now we have it and as soon as the digital edition went on sale I had to buy it.

The book begins with the genesis of Slaine in 1981, with his then wife and artist of episode one Angela Kincaid. Then takes us on a journey through each Slaine story bringing us right up to date with the final Slaine saga, Dragon Tamer with art by the amazing Leonardo de Manco. 

This could easily have been a dry piece of writing, simply listing dates, ideas and artists for each saga. But, the old punk of British comics hasn't let us down! Pat has written a very honest and open book that not only tells of the ideas and processes behind the creation of our favourite Celtic warriors stories. He also opens the door on the sort of machiavellian machinations he had to deal with from certain editors and others in the comics industry.  Equally, he weaves through the book the story of his own quest to discover the identity of his biological father and how that, and the personalities of the possible fathers, influenced characters within the stories. 

Did I like everything about the book? No, personally I could have lived without the addition of comments from readers and fans of Slaine that are peppered throughout the book.  But it does highlight how Pat reads and listens to the feedback from the fans of his work. A lot of the current crop of 2000AD writers, artists and editorial staff could take a prompt from this attitude.

If you're a fan of Slaine, 2000AD, or just the creation of comics I highly recommend Kiss My Axe for a great insight into the creation of a character and the behind the scenes of the British comics industry.

Review: Sentinel Issue #10: Newtopia

I recently received a sneak peek at the upcoming Sentinel, issue #10 so thought I'd share some thoughts on it. I'd actually just done a re-read of the Halloween Sentinel, an anthology of horror tales presented by the particularly rancid old punk Philthy Luka, perfect reading for the season of course.

Issue #10 is back to the usual 64 page "Starblazer" format single story.  This one is a noir crime story set in the future in a Blade Runner/ Fifth Element style world with flying cars, skyscrapers and dubious nightclubs.  It's a world that has been visited by aliens and forever changed by their influence and tech.  I won't go into too much story detail here as I don't want to ruin it but I will say that it begins with a diamond heist.

I'm not a huge noir fan but the story, written by regular Sentinel scribe, Alan Holloway, has elements that I like, such as the heist, future tech and a fair smattering of violence, it moves along at a good pace too.  The elements I didn't like were the use of the names of real comics community people as characters, such as ECBT2000AD progcaster John Burdis and (praise his name) Dredd supremo John Wagner. These sorts of references, can raise a smile, but always take me out of a story and that was sadly the case here too.

David Metcalfe was on the pencils for this one and his black and white artwork fitted well with the noir feel of the story.   However, I felt that some of the panels were a little static and again, this time within the artwork, nods were given to referencing real life characters. Again this just served to lift my mind out of the story.

I always applaud the efforts of the Sentinel guys, getting comics out into the world isn't easy and I love how they continue to introduce new artists to the Sentinel fans.  This one isn't for me, but I look forward to the next issue and seeing what is served up. 

Recommendation: The Labours of Heracles: Legends for Growth and Healing

Sometime, in the early part of this year, I was interested to see beautifully drawn pictures of Hercules, performing his various mythological labours, appearing on my timeline.  These were by the superb artist David Hitchcock.  David's work first came on my radar when I met him at ICE Birmingham in 2018 and I purchased a copy of his excellent adaptation of Charles Dickens' The Signalman. It turned out that David was drawing the pictures of Hercules for a project by Professor Laurence Alison on the life, labours and death of Heracles. Turns out Heracles is the original Greek name for the hero and the Romans changed it to Hercules - every day is a school day eh!

This project really caught my imagination because I was listening to the audiobook of Stephen Fry's Mythos.  Like many of my generation, my first and lasting memory of Herc was from his character in 1963s Jason and the Argonauts, played by Nigel Green. I have so many memories of watching this classic during school holidays. However, apart from this, I never really knew a massive amount about Heracles or his labours apart from the odd one like killing the Nemean Lion. Needless to say when the opportunity came to support the Kickstarter campaign to get this project off the ground I backed it. 

I chose the option of an A5 sized Novella, written  by Laurence Alison and illustrated throughout by the incredible artwork of David Hitchcock. As the Kickstarter reached its stretch goals I also received some A5 prints of a selection of the artwork.  Sadly I couldn't back the tiers that would have allowed me to get some of the sketches created especially for Kickstarter. 

I could have devoured the book, but I rationed each chapter which covers part of Heracles life or one of his labours.  This allowed me time to reflect, particularly on each labour and look for the meaning in Heracles'  actions or relate it to my own experiences working frontline at an  NHS specialist hospital. This was something recommended by the author, as each of the 12 epic labors has a lot to teach us about endurance, revenge, mental illness, violence, punishment, trauma, bereavement, friendship, love, and masculinity.

Amazingly, illustrating each labour has never been done in a book before.  The detail and nuances of each illustration reminded me of reading Bernie Wrightsons Frankenstein. There is so much to see in each piece, it is obvious that the artist was having a great time with this project.  

There are resources available to go along with the book too.  Here's a link https://www.ground-truth.co.uk/heracles

If you want to get hold of a copy for yourself you can drop a message to Andrew Richmond here: https://andrewrichmondart.com/contact/

Sneak Peek: V2A - The WASTELAND CHRONICLES - DOOMSDAY

I'm a fan of most post-apocalyptic books, movies and comics, Mad Max is one of my favourite franchises. So when Drone, lead singer of post apocalyptic rock band V2A, got in touch with me offering me a look at V2A - The WASTELAND CHRONICLES - DOOMSDAY a graphic  novel unashamedly set in the same kind of world as Mad Max I was very happy to accept.

In this 52 page full colour comic (is 52 pages long enough to be classed as a graphic novel?) The characters of the band V2A have been brought to life in two connected tales which are described as Mad Max meets Suicide Squad. 

Drone has worked with writer Dave West and artists, PJ Holden and Gustavo Vargas with colours from Matt Soffe to bring this Project to life.  You may recognise the names of Holden and Soffe from their work for 2000AD among many other projects. Gustavo Vargas is an artist I'd love to see working for 2000AD the creator of an awesome collection of Peruvian Cyberpunk comics, including the recent Puno. 

As you might expect from that role call, the quality of the artwork is top notch stuff, I was really impressed. The story itself, for me, wasn't the strongest element here however, it serves as a great scene setter. The excellent world building and characters give a lot of scope for the story to soar as, hopefully, more issues will follow. 

If you want to get your hands on a copy, perhaps one with a variant cover by the awesome Ryan Brown (above) then you can back it here:

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/v2a-wasteland-chronicles-doomsday#/

The Kickstarter was 800% funded which bodes well for the future and seeing more from Drone and his crew.